“End of the Internet as we know it”

(News Agencies) A CNN breaking news headline declared the “end of the Internet as we know it” after the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted Thursday afternoon to repeal its landmark net neutrality rules. “End of the internet as we know it,” the lead CNN.com headline read briefly after the FCC voted 3-2 along party lines to do away with its 2015 Open Internet Order that was implemented during the Obama administration. “Trump’s FCC repeals Obama-era net neutrality regulations intended to keep the web open and fair,” read the CNN sub-headline on its home page. Critics of the decision had been warning the rollback signaled the end in the weeks leading up to the vote, a charge FCC Chairman Ajit Pai denies. “It is not going to destroy the internet. It is not going to end the internet as we know it. It is not going to kill democracy. It is not going to stifle free expression online,” Pai said at the Thursday hearing. The CNN headline was mirrored by a statement from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who tweeted a video to his more than 7 million followers that “we must fight back” after the vote came down. “This is the end of the internet as we know it. In Congress and in the courts we must fight back.”Democrats, technology companies and consumer groups have all argued that the rules under the 2015 Open Internet Order are crucial in helping to stop providers such as Cablevision, Comcast and Verizon from having too much control as internet gatekeepers.
“They will have the power to block websites, throttle services and censor online content. They will have the right to discriminate and favor the internet traffic of those companies with whom they have pay-for-play arrangements and the right to consign all others to a slow and bumpy road,” said Jessica Rosenworcel, one of two Democrats on the FCC who voted against the repeal.